EPA Settlement: Company Must Spend $76,952 to Replace Light Bulbs

(CNSNews.com) - As part of a settlement with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Collis Inc. of Clinton, Iowa has agreed to a “re-lamping” of its facility with low-mercury fixtures at a projected cost of $76,952.

The re-lamping will be a greater expense than the civil penalty to be paid.

“A re-lamping project involving the replacement of high-mercury fluorescent fixtures and bulbs with low-mercury fluorescent fixtures and bulbs at its facility with a projected eligible cost of $76,952.00,” The EPA settlement says.

The “re-lamping” will cost more than the $31,379 administrative civil penalty paid by Collis Inc., a manufacturer of metal racks and shelving brackets for refrigerators.

The EPA filed a complaint against Collis, Inc. after an inspection found the company was storing hazardous waste without a permit and failed to manage used oil in accordance with regulations.

According to the settlement agreement, a major part of the project will entail replacing “Current 8-foot, 2 lamp T8 fixtures, utilize Osram Sylvania T8, Octron®, HO, Linear, High Output lamps which have a mercury content of 9.5 mg per lamp.”

“These fixtures will be retrofitted with 4-foot, 4 lamp T8 fixtures with low mercury lamps. The selected lamp, a Philips F032T8/ADV850/ALTO, contains only 1.7 mg of mercury per lamp - reportedly the lowest mercury content of any lamp currently marketed.”

Also as part of the consent agreement settlement for violations of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) Collis Inc. has agreed to “a paint waste minimizer project” at a projected cost of $14,857.

{Ed note: This story incorrectly spelled Collis Inc. as Collins Inc. in several places when first published. It has since been updated.}

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